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RE: Hold it!!!

There is a rather interesting experiment known as the Richard Clark Amplifier Challenge, which has been conducted many times with many listeners. Essentially, Richard Clark, who I think is an audio engineer, challenges the listener to discriminate, under proper A/B/X blind-testing conditions, between their own amplifier, a "standard" amplifier, and a third mystery amplifier X. The basic ground rules are that the listener's own amplifier has to satisfy some basic minimal standards with regard to distortion and frequency response. If the frequency response is too deficient, then Richard Clark mocks up a matching frequency response for his "standard" amplifier with a simple RC network.

Anyway, the upshot from the experiments is that apparently no one has ever succeeded in demonstrating a reliable ability to tell the amplifiers apart. (I think there is a $10,000 prize offered to anyone who succeeds.) Thousands of people, including professionals and amateurs, have tried, apparently.

So my suspicion would be that if the tests were conducted under rigorous blind-testing conditions, nobody would be able reliably and consistently to tell the difference between your Yamaha 2010 and an OTL amplifier.

Chris

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